"The time has finally come."
At Geom Mugeuk's words, Bi Sa-in's heart sank.
How could he not know what that mischievous gaze was demanding? He felt that what was bound to happen had finally arrived.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
He feigned ignorance.
Who would dare question him when he made such a fearsome face, claiming not to know? Unfortunately, his opponent was Geom Mugeuk.
"I mean it's time to keep your promise."
Curious about what kind of promise it was, Geom Muyang, Jin Ha-gun, and Jin Ha-ryeong, who were with them, showed their interest.
At the same time, they also thought, Poor fellow, what weakness has been exploited this time!
But for now, curiosity outweighed their sympathy.
The same was true for Geom Woojin, Jin Pae-cheon, and Baek Ja-gang, who were standing a short distance away.
Bi Sa-in's eyes pleaded, ‘Surely not? Here? Please tell me no.’
If that were the case, Geom Mugeuk wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.
"There seems to be no better time or place to keep that promise than right now, does there?"
Geom Mugeuk used the word 'promise,' further heightening the curiosity of those around them.
Bi Sa-in's heart began to pound.
Even when he was waiting below the training grounds for his first match, his heart hadn't beaten this fast.
Geom Muyang said pointedly, "I don't know what's going on, but don't needlessly embarrass the Young Alliance Leader."
"The one who made that promise was him."
With an anxious face, Bi Sa-in drained his cup.
"You're not going to give up, are you?"
"What would you do if you were me?"
He disliked it, but he had to admit it.
If the tables were turned and he had the chance to tease Geom Mugeuk like this?
"I wouldn't be able to give up."
"If I miss this chance, I'll probably regret today for the rest of my life."
Bi Sa-in agreed.
The people gathered today were a group that would be difficult to assemble again in a lifetime.
But that was precisely why he couldn't bring himself to say he would do it.
Bi Sa-in offered another reason.
"Those bastards behind this three-party meeting might be watching."
"They might be."
"And you want me to do it in this situation?"
He was asking if it was right to be seen dancing at a time like this.
"On the contrary, I hope they see it."
"What?"
"I want to show them that even with them around, we are living well. We are living our lives fully."
Bi Sa-in could tell he wasn't joking, but was being sincere.
"If we can't live our lives properly, then even if we eliminate them later, it won't be a true victory. Let's not give them any meaning."
As always, this was what Geom Mugeuk desired.
Ah, I'll be right back.
Where did you go? Oh, it was nothing important, please continue what you were saying.
Bi Sa-in drank again.
It was clear he was considering just getting completely drunk.
Geom Mugeuk changed his tactic.
"Young Alliance Leader."
As Bi Sa-in looked up, Geom Mugeuk spoke with a gentle expression.
"It's alright. I was just teasing you."
"Really?"
"Even if it's a promise, it would be difficult to keep it in a situation like this. It's a shame, but I'll have to give up. Now, now, let's not worry about it and just drink."
He should have been happy that he didn't have to dance, but for some reason, he wasn't.
Unable to hold back any longer, Jin Ha-ryeong asked, "What on earth is going on?"
"You don't need to know."
Just then, Bi Sa-in blurted out, "I promised to dance in front of people."
Jin Ha-ryeong froze with a gasp.
Not only Jin Ha-gun, but even Geom Muyang was shocked.
As all eyes turned to him, Geom Mugeuk waved his hands dismissively.
"Why are you looking at me! The Young Alliance Leader made the promise on his own."
Of course, Jin Ha-ryeong didn't believe him.
"No way! It must have been the devil's temptation."
Geom Muyang and Jin Ha-gun nodded in unison.
"You must have pushed him from behind into a trap!"
"The person always trying to push me from behind is that Young Alliance Leader!"
"No way! He would never do that."
"Since when do you know him so well?"
This time, Geom Muyang stepped in.
"I will apologize on my brother's behalf."
Ironically, the actions of the two ended up helping Geom Mugeuk.
Given Bi Sa-in's personality, it was something he couldn't hide when they spoke like that.
"No, it's true that I said I would dance."
Bi Sa-in downed three consecutive cups of wine.
"I'll dance."
Everyone tried to stop Bi Sa-in.
"Don't do it!"
Starting with Jin Ha-ryeong.
"Don't get caught up in my brother's schemes."
Geom Muyang also tried to stop him.
"Don't force yourself."
Jin Ha-gun tried as well.
If he were in Bi Sa-in's shoes? Ah, it would be a terrible thing.
"I cannot be a petty man who doesn't keep his promises."
"I think it would be better to be a petty man."
Jin Ha-ryeong said pitifully, then looked at Geom Mugeuk.
"Look at that satisfied face."
Then, Geom Mugeuk delivered the final blow to her.
"So? You don't want to watch?"
"..."
Bi Sa-in shot up from his seat.
He was swept up by the atmosphere and the intoxication.
If I have to do it someday, then fine, let's just do it today! Such youthful spirit was added to the mix.
There was also a part of him that wanted to show Geom Mugeuk that he keeps his promises.
In the end, he charged toward the typhoon, the tsunami, and the lava.
Bi Sa-in strode purposefully toward Baek Ja-gang.
Having heard the entire conversation from where he was, Baek Ja-gang had an expression that said, 'Are you really going to do it?'
"In the past, I made a promise to myself. That if I escaped a certain crisis, I would dance in front of people. Today, I intend to keep that promise."
Everyone seemed to understand what had happened.
His words held another meaning.
It had been a great crisis, and in the end, he had overcome it with Geom Mugeuk.
It wasn't just any promise, and this wasn't just any dance.
Baek Ja-gang quietly gazed into his disciple's eyes.
‘You had this side to you?’
Bi Sa-in's face was flushed red.
It was impossible to tell if it was from the wine or from excitement.
"If you made a promise, you must keep it."
Baek Ja-gang's permission was granted.
As expected of his straightforward personality.
Bi Sa-in returned and asked Geom Mugeuk, "Please make the preparations."
"Are you really going to do it?"
Instead of resentment, Bi Sa-in showed the eyes of a man who had made up his mind.
"I'm seeing a new expression on you again."
"I came this far, deceived by your words."
"There's still a long way to go. I'm going to see all of your expressions."
Bi Sa-in's eyes trembled.
Surprisingly, he now knew that those words were sincere.
From the railing, Geom Mugeuk called down to Jo Chun-bae on the floor below.
"Innkeeper, go and bring the musicians."
"Understood."
As Jo Chun-bae was about to run off, the Fist Demon stopped him and sent a telepathic message to the Division Lords.
The Division Lords dashed off like arrows and brought musicians from a nearby courtesan house.
When the musicians arrived, Bi Sa-in went down to the first floor.
Geom Woojin, Jin Pae-cheon, and Baek Ja-gang, who were on the second floor, stood at the railing and watched.
The four who had been with Bi Sa-in followed him down.
All the masters drinking on the first floor looked at Bi Sa-in.
Some were already drunk.
Bi Sa-in said to them, "To commemorate today's historic three-party meeting, I will perform a dance for all of you."
Everyone was stunned.
When the musicians arrived and set up in front of the tavern, they had assumed it was just to liven up the atmosphere.
But the Young Alliance Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance was going to dance?
The masters of the Unorthodox Alliance looked up to the second floor.
Baek Ja-gang, standing at the railing, watched silently, as if he had already given his permission.
If that was the case, then it was not their place to argue.
An old master from the Unorthodox Faction asked, "Are you planning to perform the Thousand Transformations Killing Dance?"
The Thousand Transformations Killing Dance was a peerless divine art of the Unorthodox Faction, said to leave no survivors who witnessed it.
"No."
"Then, are you planning to perform the Soul-Stealing Chaos Dance?"
It was a dance of death, known to drive those with weak inner energy mad if they watched it.
"No."
"Then will you perform a regular sword dance?"
For most martial artists, a 'dance' meant a sword dance performed with a blade.
"No. I'm just going to perform an ordinary dance that common people do. The kind of dance you see at a festival."
The old master who asked the question, as well as the others, didn't understand him at first.
What did he mean, he was just going to dance? Perform the kind of dance common people do? You? Here? Why?
"Our Young Alliance Leader is drunk."
At the old master's words, the surrounding masters looked up at Baek Ja-gang again.
Their eyes asked, 'Aren't you going to stop him?' but Baek Ja-gang just looked down silently.
Not only the Unorthodox masters, but the Righteous Path masters were also perplexed.
But everyone had had a drink, and they were curious about what kind of dance the Young Alliance Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance would perform.
The Demon Sovereigns looked not at Bi Sa-in, but at Geom Mugeuk.
The Blood Heaven Blade Demon shook his head and scolded him with his eyes, 'Aigh, you rascal!' Geom Mugeuk feigned an expression of being wronged.
Of course, not a single Demon Sovereign believed his act.
The Poison King's gaze was especially distant. ‘Ah, I remember barking in the training grounds after falling for that fiend's trick.’
The tavern's windows were thrown wide open.
Some watched while sitting, some while standing, and some even came outside to see.
Bi Sa-in stood in the middle of the road outside the tavern.
"Oh, what do I do."
Before it even started, Jin Ha-ryeong's face turned red.
She felt more embarrassed than him.
"We probably won't be able to see Young Alliance Leader Bi after this, right? He might go into a hundred years of seclusion training."
Geom Muyang and Jin Ha-gun also ganged up on Geom Mugeuk.
"You villain!"
"This time, you've gone too far."
"I told you, he made the promise on his own."
Geom Mugeuk's protests were useless.
"Even so, you just had to bring up that promise at this moment, didn't you?"
Geom Muyang had hit the core of the issue, but Geom Mugeuk had a decisive counterattack.
"So? You're not going to watch?"
"..."
Geom Muyang, Jin Ha-gun, and Jin Ha-ryeong all pretended not to hear and looked in different directions.
"Young Alliance Leader Bi! You're magnificent!"
As Geom Mugeuk cheered and clapped, the three people next to him also applauded.
The old masters of the Righteous and Unorthodox Factions showed slight disapproval at the sight.
They didn't like seeing the successors getting along like this in the first place.
But they didn't dare to openly scold them in front of Geom Woojin, Jin Pae-cheon, and Baek Ja-gang.
Bi Sa-in closed his eyes.
This feeling of being alone, of being thrown out into the world by himself.
Finally, the sound of music began.
His body wouldn't move because he was so nervous.
Ah, if this were a fight, I would have just died.
Watching him, Jin Ha-ryeong covered her eyes.
"Ah, I can't bear to watch."
"Me neither."
As Geom Mugeuk also covered his eyes, Jin Ha-ryeong protested.
"Why are you covering your eyes?"
"Now that it's actually happening, I can't bring myself to watch either."
"So you kill someone and then you're scared of the blood?"
The musicians played the music again.
How shocked must they have been? They were suddenly told to come and play, and here were the leaders of the Demon Sect, the Martial Alliance, and the Unorthodox Alliance, along with the Demon Sovereigns and the greatest masters of the Righteous and Unorthodox Factions.
And above all, the Young Alliance Leader of the Unorthodox Alliance was about to dance to their music.
The musicians were just as out of their minds as Bi Sa-in.
Yes, this must be a collective dream.
The music started again, and this time, Bi Sa-in began to dance.
"Huh?"
Jin Ha-ryeong removed the hands covering her eyes.
Bi Sa-in was a better dancer than she had thought.
Geom Mugeuk, who had been peeking through his fingers, also opened his eyes wide.
He was the one who made him do it, but he felt just as embarrassed and nervous.
"He's good?"
He was dancing quite plausibly.
It wasn't just random flailing.
His hands and feet followed the rhythm rather well.
In truth, Bi Sa-in had learned to dance from the Eighth Wolf of the Unorthodox Alliance's Thirteen Wolves.
The Eighth Wolf, who was said to have once ruled the back alleys of Hangzhou, had taught him his secret dance.
Bi Sa-in had practiced that dance diligently whenever he had time.
He had anticipated a day like this would come.
He just hadn't expected it to be today.
Geom Mugeuk could tell.
He had practiced and practiced.
This was the kind of person Bi Sa-in was.
Someone who always tried to keep his promises, and if he was going to do something, he strived to do it well.
However, Bi Sa-in's dance soon reached its limit.
He wasn't a born dancer, and it was a dance he had learned in a hurry.
He hadn't practiced enough.
As the movements repeated, the thought of his embarrassment started to make his limbs clumsy.
He needed to be shameless at times like this, but he couldn't.
His body tensed up, and his true skill level began to show.
His pitiful movements, having lost his confidence, were conveyed to everyone.
Geom Woojin tilted his head slightly to look at the sky.
Jin Pae-cheon cleared his throat.
Baek Ja-gang gently closed his small eyes.
‘Should I have come alone?’
It was at that very moment, when everyone from the Righteous, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions was feeling sorry for him, that someone leaped onto the dance floor.
"Let's dance together!"
The person who jumped in was Geom Mugeuk.
He started to copy Bi Sa-in's dance.
There was no way he could properly do a dance he was seeing for the first time, but Geom Mugeuk diligently followed the movements.
He deliberately danced in a more exaggerated and comical way, causing laughter to erupt from all around.
"This is such a fun dance!"
Then, as if getting more into it, Geom Mugeuk shouted, "A faster song, please."
The musicians played a faster tune.
Geom Mugeuk's joints bent here and there.
It was such a bizarre dance that it made one wonder, 'Where on earth did he learn a dance like that?'
Laughter erupted once again, and this time, Bi Sa-in copied his dance.
Bi Sa-in's grotesque face became even more flushed.
No one would ever know.
How happy he was when Geom Mugeuk jumped onto the dance floor.
Even if he were surrounded by enemies and on the verge of death, he wouldn't have been this happy if someone had jumped in to save him.
"Brother, let's dance together!"
Geom Mugeuk ran over and tried to forcibly drag Geom Muyang out.
Shing.
Geom Muyang's sword was half-drawn.
Geom Mugeuk changed direction and tried to take Jin Ha-gun, but shh-shing.
The sword was drawn even further.
Just then, someone jumped in on their own.
It was Jin Ha-ryeong.
‘No! Ha-ryeong!’
Before Jin Pae-cheon could stop her, Jin Ha-ryeong was already moving to the rhythm.
It wasn't because she was a good dancer.
She was also someone who was extremely shy about stepping forward in situations like this.
But seeing Geom Mugeuk step up for his friend like that, she also wanted to step up and help.
She wanted to share the embarrassment.
The thought made her body impulsively jump in.
With her joining in, the atmosphere brightened.
She danced gracefully, and Geom Mugeuk danced excitedly.
Bi Sa-in, in a daze, danced this way and that.
The musicians began to play with even more enthusiasm.
The three-party meeting was a first, but for martial artists from the Righteous, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions to gather and dance together was also likely a first since the beginning of the Martial World.
The glow from the Demon Buddha's body shone even brighter.
Having wandered all over the Central Plains, the Demon Buddha tapped his foot as if to say 'I used to have some fun in my day,' his body swaying to the rhythm.
If there hadn't been so many eyes watching, he might have jumped in.
The masters of the Righteous and Unorthodox Factions, who had initially watched with disapproval, now relaxed their stiff expressions as if they were watching children's antics.
Baek Ja-gang was watching Bi Sa-in, who was dancing his heart out.
Jin Pae-cheon had seen that kind of face many times before.
The face that said, 'No matter how great other people's children are, my child is the best.'
This time, Jin Pae-cheon looked at Geom Woojin standing on the opposite side.
He was silently watching Geom Mugeuk dance.
‘I hope you will lose to your son.
If your first defeat is at the hands of your son... wouldn't that be acceptable?’
Jin Pae-cheon's gaze returned to the children who were dancing.
"It's so joyful even when the Righteous, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions gather."
Youth is such a wonderful thing.
Why couldn't I have had fun like that when I was young? Fighting and fighting again.
This time killing this many, and next time killing that person.
Did I spend all my youth like that? Without ever laughing so freely, without ever playing so excitedly.
Then, Baek Ja-gang said, "Perhaps it's even more joyful precisely because we are from the Righteous, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions."
Jin Pae-cheon nodded.
Jin Ha-ryeong moved her hands and waist cutely, gesturing for them to follow her.
Geom Mugeuk and Bi Sa-in copied her dance.
As the three of them synchronized their movements, it looked good, like a group dance.
Bi Sa-in didn't realize it.
That he, who had never laughed properly because he hated revealing his hideous face, was now smiling more brightly than he ever had in his entire life.
Geom Mugeuk, lost in the dance, shouted, "A more exciting tune!"
Was it because the wind, carrying the full warmth of spring, cooled their sweat?
The three dancers did not tire.