A New Bond Takes Root
He had barely stepped into the front courtyard of the main residence when the first to spot him was his youngest sister, Gu-yang Cheong-cheong, her plump twin braided pigtails bouncing.
"Big Brother!"
Cheong-cheong, who had been playing house with a maid beside the flower beds, bounded over in a rabbit hop the instant she saw Ouyang Qiangang and flung her arms around his waist. The unexpected charge rocked him back on his heels for a moment, but he soon recovered and gently patted his little sister's small back.
"Big Brother, where have you been all this time? Cheong-cheong missed you so, so much!"
Her unguarded words drew a warm smile to his lips before he knew it.
"There was work I had to finish, so I had no choice but to hold back how much I wanted to see you."
As he spoke, he took her chubby cheeks in both hands and gave them a long, gentle stretch.
"Aiyaya!"
Just then, Gu-yang Cheon-gi, drenched in sweat from swinging a wooden sword at the training ground on the far side of the courtyard, spotted his elder brother and came rushing over.
"Brother! You're out!"
Unable to hide his delight, the boy studied his brother's complexion with searching eyes. Ouyang Qiangang ruffled each of his younger siblings' heads in turn. During his seclusion he had visited the main residence only a handful of times—two or three at most, and even then only for the briefest of appearances—so it had been well over a month since they had last laid eyes on him.
He lingered awhile with the siblings he had missed, indulging Cheong-cheong's chattering boasts and sparing no praise for Cheon-gi's diligence in his martial training. But he could not while away the whole day like this.
"Cheon-gi, Cheong-cheong. I have something to report to Father, so I must go in ahead of you. We'll see each other again soon."
His siblings pulled disappointed faces, but they soon nodded. After ruffling their hair once more, Ouyang Qiangang readjusted the cloth bundle of secret manuals in his arms and made for Gu-yang Baek's quarters.
A short while later, he sat facing his father in the training chamber.
"Father, after three months of research into the secrets of the Nine Dragons Ten Thousand Mountains Diagram, I have produced at least a modest result."
Gu-yang Baek's eyes widened.
"Is that... really true?"
"Yes."
Opening the bundle, Ouyang Qiangang handed over the two secret manuals containing the Wuji Return-to-Origin Heart Method and the Gale Chain Palms. Gu-yang Baek took the volumes in trembling hands, his eyes brimming with hot gratitude and regret, and beneath it all an ineffable awe of his son. For what he held was the very pinnacle of his clan's hidden legacy, the treasure he had yearned for across decades without ever grasping so much as a thread of it.
"You... you have truly accomplished it! Heaven has not abandoned our Ouyang Clan!"
Ouyang Qiangang walked him through both manuals from first page to last, step by careful step, until his father could follow with ease. When the explanation was done, he went on in an even tone.
"Of the five ultimate arts, I have deciphered only two. Uncovering the remaining three will likely take another six months."
"After forty years of waiting, what is half a year more? I only regret that your own wish to study medicine must be deferred."
Ouyang Qiangang responded, a worried look on his face.
"What concerns me is whether Grandfather might notice you cultivating these arts."
"I cannot claim to be your equal, but I am not so great a fool as to be caught out by your grandfather. Dismiss the thought."
"We must also account for the possibility of information leaking through Mother."
At that, Gu-yang Baek shook his head firmly.
"Gang, I trust your mother. She is not a woman who would betray us and move only as your grandfather wills. After thirteen years of devotion to this family, she will willingly serve as the shield that buys us time."
Seeing how absolute his father's conviction was, Ouyang Qiangang clicked his tongue inwardly.
So Father trusts Mother without reservation. I know she cherishes me, but Dong Hyeon-do's pressure must be relentless by now...
He said, "I trust you, Father. But we cannot rely on the shield Mother provides alone. The warriors and servants entrusted with this clan's finances—are they not all people sent by Gold Pagoda Mountain Manor? Can we truly afford to leave them as they are?"
Gu-yang Baek's expression turned grim.
"Moving rashly against your grandfather would only beat the grass and startle the snake. To provoke him is to invite a far greater calamity, so for now we have no choice but to leave them be."
A heavy silence settled between them. As if to lighten the mood, Ouyang Qiangang spoke lightly.
"Father, I have been shut away in my room far too long. I find myself longing for a little fresh air."
"So you wish to go on an outing?"
"Yes."
Gu-yang Baek studied him with anxious eyes.
"Will that frail body of yours hold up?"
"Training in the deciphered Wuji Return-to-Origin Heart Method has left me in far better condition than before. Anywhere nearby should pose no difficulty."
"Hmm..."
Gu-yang Baek mulled this over, then said, "In that case, what do you say to a visit to Nanchang, where your Uncle Heo lives?"
Ouyang Qiangang frowned. His memory of an uncle surnamed Heo hovered just out of focus, surfacing and slipping away.
Akasha, who is this Uncle Heo?
He most likely refers to the Bamboo Sword Master, Heo Il-bi. The late Ouyang Qiangang's memories on the subject are fragmentary, so I have little data on him either.
Heo Il-bi... yes, that much is starting to come back to me.
Though the Heo family of Bamboo Forest Manor fell short of the Ten Great Clans, it stood among Nanchang's most renowned martial houses. Its master, the Bamboo Sword Master Heo Il-bi, was counted among the finest Peak-realm swordsmen in the Jiangxi martial world, and for over a century his family and the Ouyang Clan had shared a deep and abiding friendship—the two houses' current heads had been sworn friends since boyhood.
Gu-yang Baek went on, "Their estate sits in the very heart of Nanchang, overflowing with sights to see and delicacies to eat. It is only half a day's journey from here, so you may rest as long as you please at your Uncle Heo's Bamboo Forest Manor."
The Ouyang Clan Manor stood just beyond Nanchang's southeastern outskirts, a considerable distance from the city center.
"I will do as you suggest, Father."
The next day, Ouyang Qiangang rode out onto the great road for Nanchang, with Hwang Nodae holding the reins at his side. Half a day's travel brought them to a city that lived up to its name as the foremost in Jiangxi Province, throbbing with life.
They pushed through streets thick with pedestrians and carriages until they reached the northern boulevard famed for its wealth. There, in its deepest and most tranquil corner, a mansion at once refined and stately emerged from its setting, embraced by a grove of graceful bamboo. The brushwork of the plaque hanging at the entrance—Bamboo Forest Manor—carried a spirit as keen as a blade and as upright as bamboo itself. True to its name, thousands upon thousands of green stalks stretched straight for the sky within and without the grounds, weaving a dense emerald forest.
"Please announce that the eldest young master of the Ouyang Clan has come to pay his respects to the Master of the manor."
Hwang Nodae addressed the gatekeeper with careful courtesy, and before long the massive gates swung wide. Escorted by a servant along a winding bamboo footpath toward the inner residence, Ouyang Qiangang marveled anew at the manor's scale and beauty. Rare flowers and exotic plants bloomed throughout the gardens, scholar's stones sat in artful arrangement, and the bamboo swaying in the breeze gave off a soft, hushed music—the whole of it like a painting come to life.
So this is the gulf between a clan that escaped the Orthodox-Demonic Great War untouched and one that did not.
The memory of the Ouyang Clan Manor's desolation rose unbidden, and he swallowed down the bitterness of it. When that war had come, Bamboo Forest Manor's location within Nanchang's walls had spared it the worst of the storm, and it had kept its power intact to this day. The Ouyang Clan, which had taken that blow squarely, had sadly begun its long decline.
The moment they stepped into the main hall of the inner residence, a middle-aged man rose hastily from his seat to greet them, his gentle face still bearing the good looks of his youth.
"Oh ho, Gang! It has been far too long!"
This was Heo Il-bi, Master of Bamboo Forest Manor—the Bamboo Sword Master himself, a Peak-realm swordsman whose name rang throughout the martial world.
"Uncle, I trust you have been in good health?"
Ouyang Qiangang bowed with respect, and Heo Il-bi caught him by the shoulders, warm and familiar.
"Hehe, this place is as much your home as mine, so there is no need for formality. Sit, sit."
His gaze lingered thoughtfully on his nephew's complexion as he continued.
"But Gang, your color looks far better than it did when I saw you years ago. Has there finally been some improvement in your Nine Yin Severed Meridians?"
Ouyang Qiangang answered with a faint smile.
"Thanks to your concern, I am improving little by little. It is why I could finally make the journey to Nanchang to see you."
"Now that is truly glad news! Your father must be overjoyed!"
The joy in Heo Il-bi's voice was genuine. As Gu-yang Baek's childhood friend, he had long grieved to see his sworn nephew grow up so sickly.
Just then, from the inner residence, a clear and melodious voice arrived on the heels of light footsteps.
"Father, have we a guest?"
The peerless beauty who appeared a heartbeat later was Heo Cho-ryeong, Heo Il-bi's one and only daughter. At the sight of her, Ouyang Qiangang felt his breath catch despite himself. Hers was a beauty as pure and noble as a single plum blossom newly opened upon a midwinter snowfield. The epithet the martial world had bestowed upon her—Snowflake Flying Swallow—was no flattery.
What a stunner. Back in the twenty-first century, she could have slapped the cheeks of every female celebrity back and forth a hundred times over and still had energy to spare...
Heo Cho-ryeong's eyes went wide as saucers when she recognized him.
"Ganggie?"
Ouyang Qiangang answered with a cupped-fist salute.
"Sister Cho-ryeong, have you been well?"
"It really is Ganggie!"
She crossed the room at nearly a run. The Ouyang Qiangang of the past would have flushed scarlet before her dazzling beauty and gentle warmth, hardly able to string two words together. But the man standing here now was no longer that boy.
"And look at you—your complexion is so much better than before?"
She had noticed the change in him at a glance.
"Thanks to the help of many people, my Nine Yin Severed Meridians have improved somewhat."
"I'm so glad to hear it."
A radiant smile lit Heo Cho-ryeong's face. Once they were seated across from one another, she asked with eyes full of curiosity.
"Ganggie, what do you do with yourself these days? Still shut up in your room with nothing but books?"
"Not so very different from before. I pass most of my days quietly, reading."
At his answer, a look of sympathy crossed her face.
"You still ought to get out and see the world now and then. Oh—come to think of it, this is your first time in Nanchang, isn't it?"
"It is, Sister."
"Then I'll show you the city properly myself."
At her offer, Heo Il-bi chimed in with a contented smile.
"An excellent idea. Ryeong-ah knows every corner of Nanchang like the back of her hand. With her as your guide, you are certain to enjoy yourself."
"I could not possibly put you to so much trouble..."
But as he moved to decline, Heo Cho-ryeong waved him off.
"What a disheartening thing to say. I have been bored stiff lately with nothing to occupy me. If anything, I'm the one who should be thanking you for coming."
With that, he could refuse no longer and bowed his head.
"...Then I will gladly accept, Sister."
Heo Il-bi watched the two of them with a look of quiet satisfaction.
"Then from tomorrow our Cho-ryeong shall show you the sights of Nanchang, and you, Gang, will rest. Your body may be improved, but do not push yourself under any circumstances."
"Yes, Uncle."
Amid the warm and peaceful air of Bamboo Forest Manor, a new bond quietly put down its first roots.