Chapter 195: Perilous Road (6)

One beggar, with one ragged little girl trailing behind him.

Exactly the sort of pair people liked to pick fights with.

Of course, any martial artist with enough experience in the martial world would know better.

They would have the eyes to recognize what they were looking at.

Three knots were tied into the rope around Gwak Han’s waist.

A Third Knot disciple of the Beggar Union.

A rank high enough to serve as the Branch Hall Leader of an entire district.

Soyak, meanwhile, had not bothered to disguise herself any further.

She was already following a Beggar Union beggar toward Mount Song. What more disguise did she need?

She had considered changing back into her Mount Hua martial uniform, but...

There had been nowhere suitable to change.

“By the way, did you come all the way here from Shaanxi? Alone?”

“Yes.”

“...That must have been a perilous road. Were you all right?”

Soyak blinked, then shrugged.

The only thing that could really be called an incident had been the minor disturbance in the village she had stopped at along the way.

Henan bordered Shaanxi, after all, so Mount Hua’s name still carried a fair amount of weight here.

“I was fine.”

“That’s a relief. May I ask what brings you to Mount Song?”

Soyak tilted her head.

For a beggar... he was remarkably polite.

The Beggar Union members she had met before had not been nearly this courteous.

Yang Goeng, the Branch Hall Leader she remembered, came to mind, but his manner had been closer to servility.

Then again, if she thought about it, she had not actually met that many Beggar Union beggars...

Still, there was something about Gwak Han’s behavior that did not seem very beggar-like.

Refined, perhaps.

“...Do I have to answer?”

“Not at all, but... aren’t you on your way to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?”

Soyak blinked and looked at Gwak Han.

He was extraordinarily quick on the uptake.

People said beggars survived by reading the mood around them. Perhaps this was simply an occupational skill.

“I’m rather perceptive, aren’t I?”

“...For a moment, I wondered whether you could read my mind.”

“Nothing of the sort. It just comes with being a beggar.”

Soyak considered it briefly, then answered honestly.

There was nothing to gain by lying about her destination now.

Besides, he had already seen through her.

And there would undoubtedly be Beggar Union members scattered all around Mount Tianzhu in Anhui, where the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering was to be held.

If she participated, they would discover within a few days that she had lied anyway.

“You’re right. I intend to participate in the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering.”

“Oh... Then I suppose the winner is already decided.”

“I don’t know about that. Even a Transformation Realm master can die to a stray blade.”

The ridiculous notion of wrapping the entire body in Force for protection was the sort of nonsense only a storyteller ignorant of martial arts would spout.

A Transformation Realm master’s body was still made of flesh and bone.

Just as Ak Jupae, the Flame-Saber Lord, had died to Soyak’s sword.

“Surely nothing like that would happen at the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering...?”

“You never know what the world will bring. And you never know where an enemy might be.”

Gwak Han nodded at her words.

Following his brisk pace through the crowd, they soon reached the foot of Mount Song.

The marketplace behind them was packed shoulder to shoulder with people, yet beyond the enormous main gate erected at the foot of the mountain, everything was quiet.

No one dared cross Shaolin’s threshold without permission.

“This is as far as I go.”

Gwak Han stopped.

“Thank you for bringing me here. You saved me from wandering around unnecessarily.”

“But didn’t you say you were going to the Dragon-Phoenix Gathering?”

“Yes.”

“Then what business do you have at Shaolin...?”

Soyak turned and looked up toward the summit of Mount Song.

Toward the place where Shaolin stood.

Seol Yegang and Seol Yehwa were probably there.

As were Gong-eop, the Little Divine Monk, and Great Master Gwanggyeong.

“I owe this place a debt from long ago. I thought I should pay my respects before passing through.”

“I see... Then I wish you good fortune in your martial endeavors.”

Gwak Han gave Soyak a cupped-fist salute, then disappeared into the crowd.

*****

Seol Yegang was racing down Mount Song.

Each time his foot touched the ground, his body seemed to float lightly upward, the scenery around him distorting as though being swept backward.

Perhaps because it had been so long since he had used his Lightness Arts, he could not move quite as quickly as he once had.

Then, far ahead, he spotted someone in worn clothing.

Soyak.

Soyak quietly looked up at Seol Yegang as he came practically flying toward her.

Apparently, word had reached him in advance.

She had thought she had only just arrived at Mount Song under Gwak Han’s guidance...

But there was hardly only one Beggar Union beggar in the area.

If they wanted to pass on a message, they had countless ways to do it.

“It has been a long time, Yegang.”

Soyak watched him stop in front of her and catch his breath.

He had clearly rushed out in a hurry.

His clothes were not even properly arranged.

“Who told you I was here that made you come running down so urgently? I would have climbed up myself if you had simply waited.”

“...How could I do that? I owe you far too much.”

Only after finally catching his breath did Seol Yegang brush back his hair.

Then he held out his hand to Soyak.

“...It’s been a long time. I’m glad to see you.”

“Have you heard the news about me?”

Soyak said as she clasped his hand.

Seol Yegang smiled.

“Of course. I heard you finally reached the Transformation Realm.”

“Rumors seem to spread even faster than I expected.”

Soyak gave a slow nod.

Then she released his hand.

“Are you planning to stay the night at Shaolin?”

“Yes. I also intend to see the monks who helped me before I leave.”

“Morning practice should be over by now. Come on. I’ll show you the way.”

******

At the foot of Mount Tianzhu.

The Namgung Household estate had stood as the ruling power of this region for generations.

And ever since the Grand Family Head—the Alliance Leader and Sword Sovereign—had risen to prominence, the Namgung Household’s power had soared to the heavens.

At the very heart of that power stood the Family Head’s Office, located in the deepest part of the estate.

“...She killed the Flame-Saber Lord with a single stroke.”

The front courtyard of the Family Head’s Office.

The ground had been laid with neatly cut white stone and designed for martial training.

There, Namgung Seon was slowly going back over his swordsmanship.

The very end of Transcendent Apex.

Even Gong-eop, the Little Divine Monk hailed as Mount Song’s genius, would have to concede a step to him in a contest.

In terms of internal energy alone, Namgung Seon could already be said to have reached the level of the Transformation Realm.

But a martial artist’s strength was not determined by the quantity of internal energy alone.

“...Haah.”

Namgung Seon sighed and lowered his sword.

Watching him was Namgung Hyeong, Family Head of the Namgung Household.

Stalled at the middle stage of Transcendent Apex, Namgung Hyeong knew perfectly well that his son had already surpassed him.

But no father could simply stand by while his son suffered beneath an inner demon.

When someone discovered that the rival they had spent their whole life yearning to surpass had already gone far beyond them, it was easy for their spirit to collapse.

Namgung Seon was no exception.

Three years.

He had spent three full years in closed-door training.

Throughout that long period, he had been given every precious spirit medicine his family could provide, and he had even received personal instruction from his grandfather, the man who had become the number one martial artist under heaven.

And still, he had failed to reach the Transformation Realm.

He had been unable to cross that towering wall.

The world told Namgung Seon that merely standing before the Transformation Realm at his age was an extraordinary achievement.

Objectively, that was true.

If Cheon Soyak had never existed, the whole world would probably have praised him as the greatest martial prodigy under heaven and the future number one martial artist under heaven.

And they would have meant it.

But not anymore.

They still said the words.

They still claimed that as the Sword Sovereign’s grandson, he would one day inherit the Sword Sovereign’s place.

They whispered that he would inherit that overwhelming martial might as well.

But none of those words were truly meant for him.

They were nothing more than flattery whispered because people feared his grandfather—or because they hoped to gain something from the Namgung Household.

What the world truly wanted to see was...

Cheon Soyak, who had cut down a Transformation Realm Flame-Saber Lord in a single stroke, trample even Namgung Seon beneath her feet and then turn her sword upon his grandfather.

The position of number one martial artist under heaven simply passing down through inheritance did not make for an interesting story.

And Namgung Hyeong, Namgung Seon’s father and the Family Head of the Namgung Household, knew that as well.

Namgung Hyeong had endured an even harsher childhood.

Of course, even the Transcendent Apex was a realm only a tiny handful of exceptionally gifted martial artists could ever reach.

By that point, calling oneself untalented was little more than false modesty.

But he was the son of the man who had killed the Heavenly Demon and brought peace to the Central Plains.

The son of the number one martial artist under heaven.

The son of the Alliance Leader.

The son of the Sword Sovereign.

Every expectation and every eye in the world had turned toward him...

And when he failed to display some heaven-beyond-heaven talent so overwhelming that it would crush even other geniuses beneath it, the world had simply decided to be disappointed in him.

Even his own father had.

“...Seon.”

“...Yes, Father?”

Normally, his face would have held its usual mischievous expression.

Their relationship as father and son had never been particularly warm.

Even so, for a brief moment, Namgung Hyeong saw himself in Namgung Seon.

In his brilliant, prodigiously gifted son—the son he had once believed could never possibly end up like him.