Only I Am A Reader

"Are they students of the ten great sects?"

"Who knows? They could be from the nine grand families."

As the four youths clad in black robes made their way through the city, countless mumbles could be heard. The small party silently walked into the first inn they came upon with firm steps, but the sounds didn't stop.

"Yeah, even heirs have been emerging all over at this time."

"Several idiots had fallen into disaster already, they would have known that the Sword Conference had been brought forward if they had been a little bit more attentive."

'Finally.'

Sitting down at the inn's counter, Leo took in a deep breath, the smell in the air wasn't exactly pleasant but he rejoiced!

The robes they wore when they went out were void of the patterns specific to the Heavenly Strength Society, so no one had managed to recognize them. However, there was no helping the fact that they still attracted attention…

Whether it was Yeon and Sohee or Leo and Yong, the whole group had above-average charm. Most importantly, they still didn't have the ability to completely mask off their Internal Energy.

A village or a town may have been different, but a city like the one they found was lettering with 3rd rate Martial Artists. Although such people wouldn't be able to judge their level of ability, they could at least tell that they were abnormally strong for their age.

'That's just the setting of most murim novels.'

Unless the character was a 'hidden strength' type or a face-slapping protagonist, most other prominent characters had every attribute that grabbed the observers' attention. Leo understood that so he warned the rest not to react to the mumblings of the 'peanut gallery', he made sure to remind Cheon Yong of that twice.

'More importantly…'

"Get us four a few of your best chicken dishes."

It was finally time to get some actual food!

"Right up!"

While absorbing energy could actively replace the human body's need for food, it was a procedure that consumed too much time without the help of pills. Considering that Leo and the rest needed to get into a populated area as soon as possible, they only had one option to rely on… Grain balls.

"Here you go."

Four plates of fried chicken rice were placed in front of the group as Leo hurriedly took a bite. Just as one would expect from a random inn on the street, the taste wasn't at the Michelin star level, but Leo's eyes were sparkling! Anything tasted better than grain balls!

Subpar taste was fine, but eating something that was tasteless yet managed to taste bad in some way was more like torture.

Clink.

After a quick meal, Leo put down a silver coin at the table. As a Korean novel about ancient murim fantasy, the currency used was a 'nyang'. Leo only knew that nyang was a weight unit equal to about 40 grams, but its purchasing value wasn't stressed in the novel. Still, he could tell that the 'silver nyang' had a few times the value of the silver sword used in the Sword Continent from the general gist of it.

"Can you give us directions to the closest transport house?"

"Sure. You just have to…"

The source of the coin that Leo had just presented was precisely the pouch that they received from the very start. They could probably make it to their destination on foot if they tried their best, but was that really the right thing to do?

Leo had no idea how this journey originally went as it was obviously skipped in the novel in favor of the protagonist's. However, he believed that it was right to use the money they were given if this was to be considered a test. Mental fatigue accumulated from being constantly on the move wasn't something that could simply recover through meditation.

'It's better to blend in with everyone.'

The Mount Hua Sword Conference was causing the whole martial arts community to converge at one point. It didn't matter if they were sword users or not, most Martial Artists would come around to watch and observe the changes that took place. Using transport carriages to move made sense for most unless you had something to hide.

Rather than accidentally encountering forces that are excessively hostile to the Heavenly Strength Society, it was better to hide in plain sight. In a sense, Leo simply hoped they wouldn't chance upon any incidents that made things interesting since the protagonist wasn't around just yet.

"Let's go."

Fortunately, since they didn't go out too early, the usual inn fight scene didn't break out even as they left. There were a lot of stares, but nothing happened. A stirred-up murim was far too dangerous to act stupid… or so it seemed at first.

"Hey there young miss, what do you say-"

Yeon's complexion was no longer completely frozen as she was happily roaming the world next to Leo! However, a drunk passerby just had to stretch his hand towards her, seemingly attracted by that sight…

Swish!

"What about no?"

Leo's White Tiger swiftly chopped the finger closest to touching Yeon. The man was also a Martial Artist, but he failed to notice what happened for a few seconds.

"Ugah!"

Although he wasn't a blood-thirsty person, Leo's actions were swift when it came to Yeon. Of course, the world and place were also important factors. Slapping away his hand might have been enough on Earth, but deterrence was required in the chaotic murim, going easy would only make you look like a pushover.

'The protagonist is half-right at least.'

Hastening their steps, the group disappeared in the direction they were headed in, ignoring the confused man. Their group looked innocent, but they were even more nonchalant about blood than the average murim-in as people who climbed out of the Heavenly Furnace, a finger wouldn't have been the only thing the man lost if the other three were the ones to act.

'Let's try to get by this as peacefully as possible!'