Chapter 604: Who Should Be Punished?

Chaos reigned. Broken tables and chairs flew through the air, while shattered plates and liquor bottles rolled across the floor. The students’ shouts and the thud of colliding bodies blended into a continuous din.

“A brawl between students of the Five Great Academies...”

“Hah! In all my life, I’ve never seen a sight like this!”

Onlookers watched the rare spectacle with amusement or outright disbelief. Prodigies of the Nine Sects One Gang rolling around on the floor with food smeared across their faces was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

“This is the Murim Alliance! Stop!”

“Stop! Everyone, freeze!”

Patrolling warriors from the Murim Alliance pushed through the crowd, shouting, but the students were too agitated to hear them. The fight had grown far beyond the point where anyone could easily break it off.

The academy students’ martial arts were so exceptional that subduing them would require an elite Murim Alliance unit. Since neither side would stop first, the patrollers could only evacuate the civilian customers, seal off the perimeter, and wait for masters capable of ending the brawl to show up.

“M-My restaurant...!” the owner exclaimed.

Blood drained from his face as he watched his establishment being smashed apart. Since his restaurant was upscale, everything in it was rare and expensive. He wanted to curse out the martial artists, but he kept his mouth shut out of fear of retaliation. All he could do was stomp his feet and pray that the fight would end before it destroyed everything he owned.

“Don’t worry, owner. I’ll compensate you double for the damage and subsequent loss of business,” a tall, handsome man reassured.

The owner blinked in confusion. “W-Who are you?”

“Acting Principal of the Azure Dragon Academy. Just answer yes or no.”

Several onlookers’ eyes went wide.

“It’s the Azure Dragon Hero!”

The shouts of recognition caused a commotion, and for a moment, everyone in the street focused on Baek Suryong.

After quietly surveying the scene, he had chosen not to step in and stop the students immediately, but instead had gone looking for the restaurant owner. Now, he put on a concerned expression as he studied the man’s ashen face, as well as the cooks and waiters huddled around him.

“Has everyone who was inside made it out? Is anyone hurt?”

“We all got out. Nobody’s hurt. At least, the students left us alone...”

Baek Suryong let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. “That’s a relief. If any of you had been injured, I would have broken all of those little punks’ arms and legs on the spot.”

The crowd marveled at his words, so resolute and befitting a hero of the orthodox murim.

“The Azure Dragon Hero truly is a grandmaster worthy of respect.”

“A bona fide gentleman.”

“And he’s so handsome!”

The relieved owner grasped Baek Suryong’s hands and wept. “Thank you, Master! I was so certain I was done for...”

After settling him down, Baek Suryong asked the most natural question in the world. “Could you tell me the full story? I imagine you folks who work inside know best...”

“I heard it!”

“I-I saw it myself!”

Several waiters raised their hands and began recounting what had gone on inside, one after another.

As the accounts piled up, Baek Suryong’s attentive, nodding expression gradually grew serious. “Hmm...”

“Uh, Master. Shouldn’t you stop them?” the owner asked cautiously, glancing at the crowd. “My restaurant is one thing, but if this continues, it’ll tarnish the prodigies’ reputations...”

Baek Suryong shrugged nonchalantly. Certainly, a brawl between prodigies in front of this many witnesses would not bode well for their futures, but he didn’t think the current situation was all that bad for his students.

Sensing a formidable wave of energy approaching from afar, his grin widened. “Ah, and... the Shaolin Temple will be the ones compensating you. I’ll make sure you get the money, so please don’t worry, owner.”

“Pardon? What do you mean by that...?”

A deafening Lion’s Roar erupted in answer.

“STOOOOOP!”

The roof shattered as a golden figure plunged down like a meteor.

RUUUUMBLE!

A shockwave rolled out in all directions. Startled onlookers threw their arms up over their faces as a fierce gust of wind blew through, dispersing the commotion.

An unparalleled Shaolin monk stood in the silent aftermath, his monk’s robes fluttering, looking utterly aloof. Many onlookers pressed their palms together as though they were facing a living Buddha.

“The Supreme Buddha has arrived!”

“Namu Amitabha Buddha...”

Overwhelmed by the powerful presence of Shaolin’s greatest master, the students stopped fighting. Each of them bowed his head like a guilty sinner while the Supreme Buddha regarded them with calm eyes.

“Tsk. What an absolute mess.” The Sword Sage arrived a little later, clicked his tongue, and strode over to Baek Suryong. “You were here first. Why weren’t you stopping them?”

“I was a step too late. Just as I was about to step in, the Supreme Buddha came flying in,” Baek Suryong answered with a sly grin.

The Sword Sage narrowed his eyes, his expression saying, Do you really expect me to believe that?

The Sect Leaders of the Nine Sects and Principals of the Five Great Academies arrived next, all fuming with rage.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“And you call yourselves the prodigies of our sect!”

“I grant you permission to go out, and you immediately bring shame to your school...!”

With their clothes disheveled and their faces filthy, the students made a sorry sight. At the thought of being made a laughingstock in front of such a large crowd, the elders of the Nine Sects lashed out at their respective sects’ prodigies.

The stricter a sect’s discipline, the less indulgence it tolerated. This mentality was strongest among the Nine Sects, which had deeply rooted traditions and long histories.

Ilgak of Shaolin, in particular, broke into a cold sweat under the Supreme Buddha’s calm gaze, even though the old master had yet to say a word to him.

However, the Nine Sects’ anger was not solely aimed at their own students.

“The instigators who started this fight must be severely disciplined!” the Kunlun Sect Leader shouted. Despite having been humiliated for questioning Yeo Min’s origins, he stepped forward confidently this time, apparently believing he stood on solid ground.

“Why do we gather the prodigies for a tournament? It is not simply to determine who is stronger, but to assess the skill and character of those who will lead the future orthodox murim. That is precisely why we have them compete fairly in front of so many onlookers.”

He paused, walked past his own unconscious student bearing a fist-shaped mark on his face, and confronted the Azure Dragon Academy students. His eyes settled on the half-broken liquor bottle still in Hyonwon Kang’s hand. Clearly, the Kunlun students had already told him the main points of the story.

“Smashing a man’s head with a liquor bottle and using an injured person as a shield... I fail to see how your behavior differs from those back-alley ruffians.”

Hyonwon Kang quickly objected, “Those bastards started it...”

“Silence!” the Kunlun Sect Leader roared, shutting down Hyonwon Kang’s rebuttal. He met the other Sect Leaders’ gazes. “In my opinion, a student who lacks basic martial artist etiquette and character should not be allowed to compete in the tournament. What do the other Sect Leaders think?”

The Sect Leaders of the Nine Sects nodded. As far as justification went, the Kunlun Sect Leader was right.