Book 9 Chapter 5

Unauthorized overnight stays (無斷外泊)

- A twist of fate

The moon is waning and the night is drawing in.

It was long past bedtime in the Kendo dormitory of the Heavenly Martial Academy.

Early to bed, early to rise for children in a new country!

After another rewarding day, we all went to bed.

Sleep is a noble act of building up strength for a vigorous tomorrow through a good night's rest, but there was one man who threw away this noble act and kept his eyes wide open.

As the night wore on and the stars grew brighter, this human, Bi Ryuyeon, had no intention of going to sleep.

"Mmm, the moon is really bright.

The moon through the window looked so bright and warm. The faint lunar glow cast a shadow over the night.

"The benevolent moon and the jewel-like stars, nothing can compare with them in romance!"

Without it, it would be an insult to the moon, the stars, and this beautiful night. What was needed and what was to be done had already been determined.

"Unauthorized overnight stays and drinking dances!"

Bi Ryuyeon's eyes flashed and glowed maliciously. She wasn't tired, but she had a lot of energy left in her, and the problem was, she had no intention of investing it in self-improvement or the peace of the Martial Kingdom.

"The midnight shadows call to me. The darkness of the night blinds my reason, and the faint moonlight tempts me."

Disobedience means the courage to commit an act against the law. And when followed by the word 外泊 (外泊), it refers to the brilliant wisdom and initiative to escape the stuffy, boring cage that is the dormitory.

It was the romance of a young man of Kando's age. It is a noble act of breaking away from rigid norms and seeking freedom through individual will. Illegality and violation of rules are different ways of packaging.

At this moment, she is about to call upon the power of the moon, stars, wind, and clouds to carry out her courageous plan. Unbeknownst to the world, highly confidential information suggests that this superior combination of courage and wisdom has been executed many times before. It is said to have been a perfect crime, without a single mistake.

If it's not a full-blown crime, don't do it!

It was one of her strongest beliefs.

Kang Haoyun, the Iron Bloodless Sword, the embodiment of discipline and honor, known to the cadets as the Bloodless Demon, had not yet gone to bed. Bedtime for the cadets was strictly different from bedtime for the instructors. His bedtime was later than that of the natural Guan students because he had to go around the entire dormitory even after the lights went out to make sure nothing was wrong.

On top of that, today was the day of his training, and he was sitting in the training room with his fellow instructor, Zheng Hoyu of the Qing Sheng Sect.

"It seems that the academy has been a bit rowdy lately since that inspector came, hasn't it?"

"Hehehe, but she sure is a beauty, isn't she? The more I look at her, the shapelier her ass gets……."

"Chung Nosa!"

Kang got a little testy at Jung's antics.

Do you really want to show your age that badly?

Chung Ho-yu, who was from the Cheongsung family, had a very gentle side and was not a good match for Kang Ha-yoon himself, but he had to stand on duty with him today anyway, so he had to pass the time by whispering.

There is no on-call longer than a silent on-call. This is because being on call, sleeping in, and working is a battle with oneself, a battle with one's own internal psychological clock.

Zheng Hoyu was particularly weak at fighting with himself, so he could never stop teasing his mouth. He knew from experience that the moment he stopped his tongue, his internal clock would stop as well. But as a comrade-in-arms in the battle against boredom, Kang Haoyun was not a very good ally. This meant that Zheng Hoyu's mouth had to move twice as much as usual.

"I'm bored, I wish one of the kids would get in trouble for something like this, like, say, sleeping out."

Zheng Hoyu was smiling. He didn't know if he was genuinely thinking that, because it was much more time well spent fighting a case like that than fighting boredom. Still, he was not a man of tension.

"This is no joke, Mr. Chung, and there's no one in our academy who would do such a stupid thing, only kids who always follow the rules."

"But you never know, right?"

"You say you don't have it. If you don't have it, you don't have it."

The iron-blooded Kang's tone remained resolute.

"Heh, heh, heh! I know, but I was just throwing it out there as a possibility, just in case. It's a lighthearted joke, and I don't think you'd have the inclination to do anything like that to escape our keen and perceptive notice, because we're not exactly practicing clairvoyance for fun either, so it's a lighthearted joke. You really are an iron fist, aren't you? Hehehehe!"

Zheng Hoyu smiled politely.

In general, Kang was known as an iron boss to his fellow laborers.

Their ears and senses were always open in all directions, so they could see every movement around them, even when they were sitting still.

If you've ever harbored a naïve dream of getting away with it, you've got to get past these two pinnacle masters. For those willing to risk their lives, the challenge was worth it, but in recent years, few have attempted it, and fewer still have succeeded.

Of course, as with all things, there were exceptions.

By the time the two of them were leisurely discussing this, Bi Ryuyeon was already out of their sensory hearing range.

It seems that even their vaunted heavenly hearing had failed to catch Bi Ryuyeon's trick.

The first thing you need to do is warm up and get your breathing under control. While you're doing this, you should be praying for absolute success. The last thing you want to do is get caught, as it will be a major point deduction.

First and foremost, stealth and speed are key, and it's always better to be aware of the movements of the usual suspects.

Of course, not a single breath should escape your lungs when you take action. Next to stealth is boldness. You must not allow your mind to be distracted from your work. This is because a distracted mind can manifest itself as a distracted body. The slightest mistake can lead to immediate failure here, so you need to be extra careful.

And it's all about finishing the job, which means making sure you're back on time the next day so you're not late for class. Don't leave any unnecessary pods for your employer.

It was a difficult task to escape the attention of the Supreme Court, and there were many obstacles and difficulties. However, Bi Ryuyeon's body went in and out of Baekhyanggwan, and this was enough for her to lie down and eat.

Security at the Academy of Heavenly Arts is near perfect. At least no one sleeps in on duty.

However, guarding the entirety of the vast Tianmu Hall with such a small number of people was simply not feasible.

The walls are regularly patrolled by guards, but with fewer men and longer patrols, gaps are bound to appear. To compensate for the weaknesses, a spiderweb of mechanisms has been placed in every direction. After bedtime, a death trap would be set up throughout the entire academy. It was the most crucial part of making the Academy of the Heavens a perfect iron-walled citadel.

But for her, it was all for naught. She wiped out the hard work of the craftsmen who had toiled to build the engines and arrange them in such a way as to deliver the most devastating blow at every moment.

In just five leaps, Bi Ryuyeon was able to jump over all the obstacles, and with her sixth leap, she effortlessly cleared the final obstacle, an eight-foot-high city wall. Experience is indeed something that cannot be ignored, and she had done this so many times that she had no difficulty in lining up. My initial nervousness was now a distant memory.

There was no wall tiger gong (壁虎功, also known as lizard god gong, a type of martial art that allows you to climb over unsupported walls) to use.

On this night, the moon and stars in the night sky could see Bi Ryuyeon's leisurely figure scaling the walls of the Tianmu Academy without any inhibitions, but he didn't snitch to anyone.

"It's bright as ever here, yes, yes, yes, the stars on earth are drunkenly greeting me!"

The moon wasn't the only thing shining brightly. The colorful glow of the lanterns in the liquor districts centered on the boulevards reminded us of the stars that had descended to earth. Moreover, these earthly stars could provide people with alcohol, killing two birds with one stone.

"Come to think of it, you were here with Yeomdo last time……."

The last time I went out for a night on the town, Saltdo was an accomplice. It was convenient in many ways to be with a samurai master. The price of alcohol is firm and there is no risk of being discovered…….

'I wish I could have come with you today… I can't believe you turned me down like that…….'

That's the only thing I'm not happy about.

"I'm busy. I don't know how many times a day I pick up my sword these days, wishing I had two bodies. I wonder if I'd have two bodies if I taught in halves. The reason I'm so overworked right now is because of you, Master, who everyone hates."

"No, what's wrong, why are you suddenly alive?"

Dumbfounded, Bi Ryuyeon replied. It was only natural that she would feel unjustly attacked like this.

"If my master hadn't dumped a bunch of day laborers on me, I wouldn't have been overworked."

"……?"

A quick glance over his shoulder revealed a stack of papers on his desk. It was enough to make me dizzy just looking at it.

"That's why I can't deal with you today, I have to submit a comprehensive report on the Zhu Jia Clan by tomorrow. We'll see about these guys tomorrow. How dare you make this body suffer so much?"

Pow! Pow! Pow!

Hostility toward the culprits who had imposed such a burden of paperwork on him erupted from his entire body. Unable to take his anger out on the most fundamental culprits, he focused it on the secondary ones.

It's a premonition of a bleak future for the troupe. Of course, he overlooks the fact that the root cause of that bleakness is himself.

"Still, it's a shame!"

Once again, my usual watering hole was away for a while, and my stomach felt empty.

"I'm going to play completely on my own today!"

A young master has decided to take the place of his hard-working older student and have a little fun.