The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 193 Scholar Juyul (16) - Being Prepared Prevents Worry "If preparations are thorough, there will be no worries about what comes after" *** The chivalrous warrior in the muddy field spoke thus. "Since the situation is as it is, let us join forces and overcome these difficulties!" The scholar who heard these words declared. "Then all of you become my disciples!" Naturally, if one were to meekly nod at those words, that wouldn't be the heretical path. Oh Ga-myeong and Drunken Dreamer Yayul Jae were classified as heretical path more due to their 'eccentricity' than 'wickedness', but originally a person's character is greatly influenced by the waters they swim in. Oh Ga-myeong, who had somewhat grasped Juyul's background through Zhang Oh, only felt displeased but didn't openly rebel, however Yayul Jae's reaction was dramatic. "What? Disciple? Has this pale-faced scholar lost his mind!" At his unrestrained harsh words, sparks flew from Zhang Hualing's eyes once again, but Yayul Jae did not retract his words. Yayul Jae was exactly the person who had caused a ruckus and left his sect because he disliked being oppressed by authority and power from above. Considering the weight of the word 'master-disciple relationship' in the martial world, he was truly a rebel among rebels with extraordinary guts. 'Tch, this has become troublesome.' Oh Ga-myeong clicked his tongue inwardly. Even if the three Seven Hegemons had somehow gathered, in terms of objective power they were far inferior to Heaven-Breaking Lord's faction. Even working together in perfect coordination would be like that, so if the alliance creaked this much from the very beginning, wasn't the future all too obvious? But contrary to Oh Ga-myeong's concerns, Juyul's attitude was merely calm and composed. True to his own words about following expedient measures rather than proper ways, he spoke with unrestrained informal speech rather than respectful or neutral tones. "Huh, wasn't your story about asking me to teach you martial arts? That's why I said to regard me as a master, so is there some problem with that?" "That's only necessary for riffraff! My martial arts are already perfect so I don't need any help!!" "It doesn't seem that way though." "What?" "I said your martial arts don't particularly seem perfect." The mouths of those listening nearby gaped open. Declaring to a martial artist, especially one who had reached the pinnacle of mastery, that 'your martial arts are nothing special' had that level of destructive power. "Ideally I'd like to have time to calmly persuade and seriously teach, but since the matter is urgent, let's do it this way. The winner becomes the master. Of course, an ordinary fight would be hard for you to accept, so if your attack touches my body even once, I'll count it as my defeat." "...You'll have to take responsibility for your own words." Yayul Jae's voice now carried killing intent beyond mere anger. Seeing him adjust his stance, just as Zhang Hualing and Oh Ga-myeong prepared to intervene. "Don't interfere." With that quiet declaration, Juyul stepped forward. In his hands was a staff of unknown origin, and at this appearance suggesting he would fight with the same weapon, Yayul Jae's eyes grew even more fierce. Provocation at this level could indeed be called masterful. Instead of ranting about killing or such things, Yayul Jae's body shot toward Juyul. With his head low and belly nearly touching the ground, it was something closer to a snake than human movement. Martial arts are fundamentally techniques for fighting fellow humans. Dealing with an enemy attacking while crawling along the ground would inevitably be difficult, but Juyul's response seemed to overturn such common sense. The moment Juyul's staff touched the ground with a thud. Yayul Jae's body floated up into the air with a thump. The moment everyone except Juyul's minds filled with question marks, Juyul's voice rang out calmly. "Pursuing freedom is different from rejecting orthodoxy, and the obsession with not being bound by convention is itself another form of convention. If you dislike walking on proper roads and only try to walk on forest paths, how would that be different from a child's tantrum?" Juyul's staff struck the neck of Yayul Jae, who was flailing to regain his posture in midair. After scooping up Yayul Jae's body, which was hanging limply like a rag and about to fall to the ground, with his staff, Juyul turned his gaze toward Oh Ga-myeong. After alternately looking at Yayul Jae hanging on the staff like laundry and Juyul's face, Oh Ga-myeong declared without hesitation. "Which tree should we start cutting?" *** From an ordinary person's perspective, martial artists are truly strange beings. With seemingly delicate arms that appear to lack any muscle, they can exert tremendous strength, run along high mountain paths without easily tiring, and move more while eating less than others - truly worthy of being called superhuman. This means, in other words. They were indeed the finest talent for working as laborers. "Damn it!! Hey you bastard!! Put your strength into it properly!? If we drop it, both of us are dead!!" "Cut off the tree branches quickly!! The work is getting bottlenecked here so the overall pace is slowing down!" "Hey, hey! Who digs like that! Get your posture right! You'll hurt your back like that!!" Around Juyul's academy. A construction site had begun in the originally barren space where nothing existed. Hao Sect members following their leader's orders, wanderers summoned by Drunken Dreamer, and finally disciples of Juyul's academy continuously moved here and there, compacting earth, moving rocks and sand, and erecting tall pillars. Of course, there was some resistance. "You're telling me to cut trees and move stones? What do you take me, the Ugly Great Sword, Dong Young, for!!" True to his nickname as a swordsman who uses a large sword from Chu Province, the man with a large sword on his back threatened menacingly. As one of the wanderers who came at the call of Drunken Dreamer, who could be called the idol and pride of wanderers, he could not possibly accept this situation of being suddenly thrown into a construction site. There's the pride of martial artists - how could they do such menial work! "Lord Yayul!! How long do you intend to endure such humiliation!! Shouldn't you rise up and show the pride of us wanderers!" "...Pride?" Drunken Dreamer, who was swinging his staff like a hammer and breaking jagged rocks into uniformly sized gravel, slowly turned his head to the side. At the terrifying pressure flowing from those two eyes, Ugly Great Sword unconsciously stepped backward. "Pride. Yeah, very important. That's why I'm enduring this crap. I have to finish today's work quota so that damned scholar... no, Master will accept a rematch. Right?" "L-Lord Yayul?" "But have you finished all your work before coming to talk to me? That must be it, right? You're not possibly coming to me without finishing your own work and interfering with mine too, are you?" Of course he hadn't. He had come to overturn everything because he didn't want to work in the first place, so how could he have done it? Human language is revealed not only through mouth and tongue but also through expressions and gestures. Yayul Jae, who had already realized the answer before he could even open his mouth, raised his staff, and merciless beating followed before Ugly Great Sword could make any excuses. "Argh! Ugh! Wait! Argh!" Seeing stone fragments from breaking rocks scattered along with dust, the wanderers who had been secretly displeased with this situation quickly began to focus on their work. It absolutely wasn't because they were scared of getting beaten together - it was purely due to the unique professional consciousness of wanderers. Since they had agreed to receive payment, shouldn't they finish the work like professionals? 'He won't accept duels on days when work falls behind and just runs around dodging, so that guy has completely lost it.' Glancing sideways at that scene, Hao Sect leader Oh Ga-myeong continued with his share of the work. In front of him was a large pot, inside which thick glutinous rice was bubbling and boiling. Zhang Oh, who was stirring a relatively smaller pot nearby, spoke to him. "By the way, sect leader. Why did he tell us to boil this glutinous rice? Could this be our meal?" "Well. He told our female disciples to prepare rice separately, so I don't think that's it." It seemed like Juyul himself would tell them if asked, but instead Oh Ga-myeong surveyed various parts of the work site with his own eyes. It was an action based on the empirical rule that even when asking the same question, thinking with one's own head first before hearing the answer allows one to learn more. 'Drunken Dreamer and the wanderers are responsible for transporting gravel and rocks, especially hard materials, and breaking them uniformly' 'Me and the Hao Sect members handle miscellaneous tasks like meal assistance and boiling glutinous rice. Also taking care of bamboo.' 'Lady of Trampling Fire's side was burning limestone. While maintaining a specific temperature precisely.' '...Is this construction-related?' Since Oh Ga-myeong was among the most knowledgeable in the martial world, he could at least realize that Juyul was trying to create some kind of building. The problem was the intention. 'Heaven-Breaking Lord's faction is currently organizing internally so they won't attack right away, but it still won't take more than a few months. Can we build a structure in that short time? Even if we build it, would it be meaningful?' In the martial world, 'defensive architectural structures' usually refers to mechanism formations. A crystallization of killing intent where stepping on ground stones causes spears to shoot up from below to pierce people, touching walls makes arrows fly from the sides, hallucinogenic smoke bewilders people, and various poisonous insects and strange plants poison intruders. But from Oh Ga-myeong's observation, the building Juyul was trying to create seemed to be something closer to a living space rather than a defensive fortress. Moreover, it was a place with multiple floors, suitable for several people to live in one building. It was innovative if anything, but what on earth did this have to do with the battles that awaited them? 'I don't know.' Well, just learning martial arts in spare time wouldn't be a loss. Thinking so, Oh Ga-myeong silently immersed himself in the work.