Two Joys Are Enough
After the Young Family Head appointment ceremony concluded, Jegal Mun-ho moved his residence to Waryongheon — the Crouching Dragon Pavilion — within the main estate.
A dragon that lies hidden, biding its time for the future.
Damn, that was a good name.
Those Jegal types really knew how to name things. Probably all that scholarly depth of theirs.
From now on, Mun-ho would stay at Waryongheon and learn every last detail of how the family ran, so he could handle the postwar negotiations with the Namgung Clan. He would have to study everything there was to know about the Namgung as well.
Know your enemy and know yourself, as the saying went — only then could you sit down at a bargaining table without getting steamrolled.
Every hall, every pavilion, every division under the Jegal Clan.
The key figures of the household all clustered around him to teach.
Training?
That much, they could skip.
In its place—
"This is Daoist Mujin. He'll be training with us from now on. You all know his face, or at least his name, right?"
Mujin would be living with them.
The Family Head and the household retainers, having received a request from Yeong-hwa, Palace Master of the Ujin Palace, welcomed him with open arms. Of course they did.
A disciple of Wudang staying on as a house guest?
How was anyone supposed to refuse that?
And on a personal level, Mun-Hyeon didn't think it was a bad choice either.
The man had obtained the insights Mun-Hyeon left behind in his final years — a fateful encounter that could prove either blessing or curse. But looked at another way, Mujin was his first true disciple.
He had raised a few in his previous life, but back then he had been cultivating the very people who would one day deliver his death. Lately, though, his feelings on the matter had shifted.
Because of Jegal Mun-ho and Gwan Hwi-pyeong.
There was a certain satisfaction in raising them, he supposed.
Well, hell. They say you never know a man's fate. Living in a gentleman's household, and here I am learning all Three Joys.
So spoke Mencius, who in his day had made quite a name for himself with the written word.
The Three Joys of a Gentleman.
Parents both alive and well, brothers free of misfortune — a household at peace. That was the first joy.
He could relate to that well enough.
To gather the finest talents under heaven and educate them so they might shape the future — that was the second joy.
He had been feeling that one keenly of late.
And the third.
To look up at the heavens without a shred of shame…
"Ahem! Three joys, my ass. Who gets to have everything? Two is plenty. Damn right it is."
Jegal Mun-Hyeon decided that wanting it all was just greed, and promptly rationalized himself out of the third joy.
"Anyway, get along. Teach him whatever he doesn't know."
"…Yeah."
The answer came out oddly half-hearted.
Fair enough. A Wudang Daoist who had lived a life free of worldly desire was never going to feel entirely at ease among secular folk.
But people grew closer by rubbing shoulders, didn't they?
Even if they butted heads now and then, that was fine.
At their age, fighting was just how you built affection.
"Hmm. That said — now that Brother Mun-ho is Young Family Head, we'll need someone to lead those who serve under him. Brother Gwan, I figure it should be you."
At those words, Jegal Gwan's face twisted.
Brother Gwan, you…
What country's etiquette was that supposed to be?
And what was he being ordered to do now— wait.
Hold on. What exactly was he being told to do?
Serving the Young Family Head… so, chief of the personal guard? The kind of post that would carry enormous authority once Brother Mun-ho became Family Head?
"M-me? Not you?"
"I'm exempt."
That made sense.
You couldn't very well stick the family's strongest martial artist in the Young Family Head's escort detail forever.
Then—!
Was he really becoming captain of the guard?
And when Brother Mun-ho became Family Head… that would put him in the seat right below—!
They said every hardship had its reward, and after suffering like a dog under this damn little brother of his, here came the jackpot.
Jegal Gwan felt his whole body prickle with electricity.
"But remember this. Authority always comes with responsibility."
"…Yeah."
Barely managing to smooth out the twitching corner of his mouth, Jegal Gwan gave a vigorous nod.
He was the guard captain now.
Captain over Gwan Hwi-pyeong himself!
"Sayo called me in, so I'm heading to the Beggars' Sect headquarters. Brother Gwan, go find Brother Mun-ho and let him know you're his new chief. Brothers Hwi and Pyeong — show Mujin around the streets near the estate."
"Got it!"
Once Jegal Mun-Hyeon left the estate, Jegal Gwan dashed off toward Waryongheon in high spirits.
The Mujin who remained behind couldn't help wearing a faintly tense expression.
He felt like a solitary island cut off from everything.
They had seen each other's faces before, so they weren't complete strangers — but for a man who had lived his whole life on a mountain, training alongside other people was still unfamiliar territory.
And this was his first day as a house guest.
Naturally, a person would be reading the room.
"Brother Mujin."
"…Yes?"
A pair of hands clapped firmly onto his shoulders, and Mujin flinched in surprise.
Brother Mujin?
That was his Daoist name, not a given name…
Surely they weren't already trying to throw their weight around just because Jegal Mun-Hyeon was gone?
But then—
"Why on earth did you do it?"
"Pardon?"
"Why would you abandon Wudang and come to the Jegal Clan — and of all people, decide to train under that bastard?"
"…?"
Something about this conversation was off.
Hwi and Pyeong shook their heads with long-suffering sighs.
"You made a mistake. A truly enormous mistake."
"W-what are you talking about?"
"Even Palace Master Yeong-hwa went too far, dumping a disciple on a monster like him. And not even someone from Ujin Palace — a disciple of the Jasogung, no less… What an irresponsible woman."
Mujin's head went blank.
What in the world was this nonsense?
Jegal Mun-Hyeon was a man who had rendered great service to Wudang, and privately, the benefactor who had saved Mujin's life. He was the one who had opened a path forward for a man ready to abandon everything after taking demonic arts into his body.
And the moment their brother stepped out, these so-called siblings were slandering him?
First day or not — that, he could not tolerate.
"Listen here. How can you speak such words? I may be a Daoist who left the secular world young, and I may not match you in worldly ways, but I have read enough of the classics to know that brothers are as hands and feet."
"…"
Brothers were like limbs — lose one, and you never got it back.
Hwi-pyeong nodded.
True enough. Hands and feet.
You worked them like hands and feet, and you beat people with them like hands and feet too.
"Furthermore! Do the classics not also say that brothers and sisters share the same vital breath from birth, that the elder should treat the younger as a friend and the younger should revere the elder, never daring to harbor resentment? And yet how can you all—"
"Hey. You think we don't know what that means?"
"…"
"We know. Brothers and sisters are born of the same parental breath, so the elder should love the younger as a friend, and the younger should revere the elder — and that's exactly where the problem starts!"
The usually composed Jegal Pyeong suddenly flared up and shouted.
"Revere? Reveeeere? What the hell is reverence supposed to mean? Is it the same word as assault?"
Jegal Hwi foamed at the mouth, practically seething with irritation.
What was this?
Why were they reacting like this?
"Haa. Fine. What would Daoist Mujin know? That damn bastard saved your life, so for now you'll think of it as a debt of gratitude."
"…"
"Sure. Go on, give it your best shot. Within ten days you'll be cursing him just like the rest of us."
Jegal Pyeong was certain of it.
"Ten days? I'll bet my right hand it's five."
"Right — no, wait, no. One day! Just one! What's this five-days nonsense? When did you get so generous? Did your patience somehow improve? Didn't you hear him earlier? He was already using casual speech."
The two of them started laying odds on the number of days like gamblers at a betting table.
Mujin simply could not adjust.
Muryangsubul… He had been speaking casually since the first time they met.
"Danpung County?"
"Yes. You've probably never heard of it. They say someone there remembers information related to the Ascension Method."
"Is that so?"
His eyes lit up.
At last — the news he had been waiting and waiting for from Sayo.
Danpung County.
A small village on the banks of the Yangtze, north of the Mujugwan Road. Just as Sayo said, it was a place-name he was hearing for the first time. Chances were, no one in the Jegal Clan had ever heard of it either.
Somehow, there had been one near them after all.
Well — they had combed the entire realm like hunting for lice back then. There was no guarantee that Hubei Province had been free of Ascension Method discoveries.
And the Beggars' Sect had handled every one of those contacts…
"How did you find him?"
"While making inquiries, we located a retired senior of our sect."
"A retired senior?"
"Yes. After the Beggars' Sect collapsed, he seems to have lived an ordinary life. These days he makes a living weaving bamboo mats to sell."
"Hmm. He must be quite old."
Sixty years had passed, after all…
"He's ninety."
"What?"
"Ninety years old."
"L-long life, that's— w-wait. Ninety?"
"Yes."
"H-he's still alive, right? Nothing wrong with his health?"
"For the time being."
"…"
For the time being. Meaning no one knew what came after.
For a man who had lived to ninety, every single day was different from the last… which meant there was no time to waste.
"Does anyone know exactly where he is?"
"Unfortunately, we don't have a branch in Danpung County yet, so the Xiaogan branch is looking into it."
"I'm going right now!"
"Pardon? Right this moment?"
"You said he's ninety! Every day on the road is a day he might not have—"
"There's no need to rush that hard… If you wish, we can bring him to you. He is an elder of the Beggars' Sect, after all."
"Absolutely not! What if the long journey wrecks his health?"
"…"
"Just send word immediately. I'm going to find him right now."
Faced with a man snorting with urgency, Sayo could only shake her head.
Who was going to stop him?
"Understood. And if we can locate the old branches that used to be spread across Hubei, things will go a bit more smooth—"
Sayo had wanted to say that recovering records from sixty years ago would be easier if they found the old branches or people who had been there at the time — but Jegal Mun-Hyeon had already vanished.
"What's he in such a hurry for… It's not as if he's actually trying to ascend."
She had no choice but to shake her head.
But the Ascension Method…
Whether it was pure scholarly hunger or something else on his part, it wasn't a bad thing for the Beggars' Sect either.
Finding the Ascension Method he wanted meant reaching sixty years into the past.
For his sake, they had already begun locating and restoring the old northern Hubei branches.
The beggars were moved.
Just as the Jegal were reclaiming their former glory, they too felt as though they were reclaiming theirs.
And they would have to search the entire Central Plains.
If, in the process, they consolidated their strength and brought the old branches back into the world, the scattered Beggars' Sect might become one again.
After all, most people who still held memories of sixty years past would be the elders who remembered the sect's former days.
Through them, the Beggars' Sect would be reunited.
Before anyone quite realized it, Jegal Mun-Hyeon's search for the Ascension Method had become something the Beggars' Sect needed as well.
They were stretching out toward the whole realm.
Just as they once had, when they watched over the entire Central Plains.
"We will find it for you, Young Master Mun-Hyeon. For your sake — and for the Beggars' Sect's…"
"You're going where?"
"Danpung County."
"Danpung? There's a place like that?"
Jegal Mun-ho tilted his head.
Even for him, the name Danpung County was a first.
"You're something else. You just told Gwan to ask me to make him my personal guard, and now this."
"Report it that way. Forming a personal guard is the Young Family Head's authority, isn't it?"
"Well, yes, but… I heard Gwan is the guard captain?"
"That's right."
"That's right? Not you?"
"Could you handle me?"
"Well…"
No, he couldn't.
Not him, not the Family Head — was there any elder in the entire Jegal Clan who could rein that bastard in?
The only person in the family who could keep him in check was… Auntie, maybe?
"I like being free. Just like I am now. So think of me as an ordinary martial artist under the Young Family Head."
"You little…"
"Anyway, I'm stepping out for a bit of air. You just keep studying hard."
"Air?"
"Yeah."
"So that's why you came. You need my permission."
"You catch on quick."
Watching Mun-ho grumble, Jegal Mun-Hyeon grinned.
Did you think I put you in that seat for nothing?
He still hadn't settled on a path for himself. There were plenty of posts he could have aimed for, but he had declined them all.
The family had found its footing again, and a Young Family Head had been appointed. Now it was time to pursue his own ambitions.
Ascension — and revenge against those half-immortal bastards.
For that, it was better to move independently, free of family interference. Serving under the Young Family Head was the convenient arrangement.
Which was why he had come to see Jegal Mun-ho.
From now on, Mun-ho would be his excuse.
"When are you coming back?"
"Who knows. Might take a while. Might be quick."
"We have the talks with the Namgung Clan coming up soon."
"That's the Young Family Head's job to handle."
"Hey, you bastard! You're just going to say that so irresponsibly?"
"You've got to stand on your own. How long are you going to cling to someone's pant leg? Handle a negotiation of that level yourself. We're in the superior position anyway."
"I thought I was your superior."
"You know that's just the cover story."
"Y-you little… At least make it back in time for the date, yeah?"
"We'll see."
"Hey!"
"Anyway, I've told you where I'm going. I'm off."
"W-wait, Mun—"
Before Mun-ho could get another word out, Jegal Mun-Hyeon was already gone. The man really was like the wind.
"Haa. That impossible bastard."
Jegal Mun-ho let out a sigh — then a flicker of unease crossed his face.
"…He'll come back on time, though… right?"