Don't Be Mistaken
"Is that true?"
The words struck like a bolt from a clear sky. The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber had already begun to fear that his daughter might have been harmed—or even killed—by Bulsama.
"What reason would I have to lie? If anything, I cannot fathom why you would lie to us."
Do-eo-ak-jon believed the man had simply lied to them, rather than considering that this Plum Blossom Sword Guard might be an impostor.
"Were you trying to get rid of us because too many people are after the elixir?"
It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding.
"No. I thought Bulsama had fled to the ship, and that we would fight him there."
After offering that rough excuse, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber turned to Do-eo-ak-jon with an anxious face.
"Did you happen to see a woman Bulsama had captured on the ship?"
Do-eo-ak-jon did not answer the sudden question. But Dang Seol-yong's reply followed at once.
"There was no woman. Why do you ask?"
"Not even a woman being held captive?"
"The ship wasn't that large. We searched every cabin, but there was no woman."
"Ah—I asked because a female disciple of ours was taken by Bulsama."
When Dang Seol-yong looked at him with suspicion, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber offered that cover story.
Suddenly, Do-eo-ak-jon shouted.
"If Bulsama had truly been on that ship, the martial artists who rushed there wouldn't have survived. Isn't that so?"
Seo Joo-cheon let out a quiet laugh at Do-eo-ak-jon's misplaced suspicion. That was how perfect the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber's disguise as a Plum Blossom Sword Guard had been.
At the same time, Seo Joo-cheon realized two things.
First: Bulsama's kidnapping of Do Ok-myeong had not been a coincidence. He had assumed Bulsama had abducted the beautiful Do Ok-myeong merely to satisfy his lust.
He knew exactly that Do Ok-myeong was the daughter of Do Gi, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber. And he knew that to get the Gongcheong Seokyu from him, he would have to take the daughter as a hostage.
He also realized that the howl Bulsama had let out amid the flames had not been for the death of his subordinates, but an expression of fury at losing Do Ok-myeong.
You can tell just from the fact that he personally led his men to Namcheon Inn.
Then came Seo Joo-cheon's self-reproach.
And I'm still thinking of this place as a novel. Because I've only been looking at things from the protagonist's point of view, I haven't been able to read Bulsama's movements and thoughts.
In terms of how the story ought to unfold, he had never expected Bulsama to go all the way to Namcheon Inn. He had been thinking only in terms of a novel's plot. He had overlooked the fact that a powerhouse like Bulsama wouldn't bother waiting on a ship—that even with Plum Blossom Sword Guards present, he was the type to attack Namcheon Inn himself to get his hands on the Gongcheong Seokyu.
"Big Brother, we have to get back to the inn right away. Third Brother is in danger."
Ham Cheon-yeong and Kang Chu-mi shot to their feet. Seo Joo-cheon helped the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber up as he spoke.
"Come with us."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber, for his part, seemed not to trust Do-eo-ak-jon and Dang Seol-yong. But when he saw that the martial artists who had come from the ship were all unharmed, he had no choice but to believe them. If Bulsama or his subordinates had been on that ship, those second-rate martial artists never would have made it out alive.
Even so, with no idea where his daughter was, he could not simply rush to the inn, and his face was clouded with indecision. Seeing this, Seo Joo-cheon spoke to Ham Cheon-yeong.
"Second Brother, I'm worried about Third Brother, of course—but I'm also worried about Miss Do Ok-myeong. She doesn't know any martial arts at all. I fear she may come to harm. If we wait to escort Daoist Sim Gong, we'll be too late. We'll have to go on our own."
"Let's do that, Big Brother. We don't have time to stand around."
Ham Cheon-yeong was burning with urgency. At those words, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber seized Seo Joo-cheon's hand.
"Wait! What did you just say? Did you say Do Ok-myeong?"
"I did. Why?"
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber rolled his eyes for a moment, then spoke.
"Why is she at the inn?"
"We rescued her while fighting Bulsama and brought her to the inn. In fact, we came here at Miss Do's request—to save her father."
"Ah!"
Ham Cheon-yeong looked at the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber with a strange expression.
"Daoist Sim Gong, how do you know her?"
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber was about to speak when Seo Joo-cheon released his hand and cut in.
"We don't have time to waste on questions like that. Let's go."
He had deliberately cut the man off, worried that he might let slip that Do Ok-myeong was his daughter. It was a precaution, because Dang Seol-yong had not left and was listening carefully to their conversation.
"Did you... did you really save Miss Do?"
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber stammered, catching himself just as he had been about to say, unthinkingly, that Do Ok-myeong was his daughter.
"We did. While saving Young Hero Jang, we happened to rescue a woman Bulsama had kidnapped. She was a young lady named Do Ok-myeong."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber knew well why the Shaanxi Four Evils had come to be called the Shaanxi Four Chivalrous Heroes. Their battle against Bulsama and their rescue of a Wudang disciple had already become a famous tale throughout Shaanxi.
"This humble Daoist will go with you as well."
Seo Joo-cheon replied, even though he already knew the truth.
"We'll be using lightness skill from here on. Can you manage that in your condition?"
"Even if I fall into qi deviation, I have to go. There's no time to circulate my energy here. If Bulsama truly attacks the inn, it will be dangerous."
At those words, Jeo Pung, the White Salt Blade, still in disguise, helped him to his feet. Ham Cheon-yeong and Kang Chu-mi were already racing ahead, and Do-eo-ak-jon, terrified of losing the elixir, was a hundred zhang out in front. The martial artists who had been tricked by the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber into going to the ship had long since turned back toward the inn. Dang Seol-yong and her escort warriors were already pulling away from Seo Joo-cheon as well.
That left only Seo Joo-cheon, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber, and Jeo Pung, the White Salt Blade.
As the White Salt Blade supported him and the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber continued to play the injured man, Seo Joo-cheon let out a sigh.
"You don't have to keep acting."
"What do you mean?"
Seo Joo-cheon looked at the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber.
"I already know you're not a Plum Blossom Sword Guard. You're the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber."
At those words, the White Salt Blade, who had been supporting him, quietly gripped the hilt of his saber.
"There's no need for you to draw your saber, Hero."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber stared at Seo Joo-cheon with shaken eyes—this man had seen through not only his own identity, but Jeo Pung's as well.
"I already knew that you two sent those martial artists to the ship under false pretenses."
"Did you know Bulsama had gone to the inn as well?"
"That, I didn't know."
"You could have pretended not to know and attacked us in secret. Why reveal this?"
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber could not fathom Seo Joo-cheon's intent.
"You may not believe me, but we came to save Hero Do at Miss Do's request. She believed she had been kidnapped by Bulsama, and that her father would come looking for him—so she asked us to find her father first."
Jeo Pung, the White Salt Blade, replied in a deep voice.
"I cannot believe it. The Shaanxi Four Evils, who aren't even righteous heroes of the martial world, granting a woman's request like that?"
Jeo Pung himself was of the Unorthodox path, and he did not believe that Unorthodox martial artists would play at being chivalrous heroes.
Those infamous Four Evils granting a woman's request without some ulterior motive? A passing dog would laugh at that.
Jeo Pung remained wary of Seo Joo-cheon, ready to draw his saber at a moment's notice.
"It's the truth. It was a request from a woman we ourselves had saved. We couldn't refuse."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber cut Seo Joo-cheon off.
"There's no time to verify any of this. We have to get to the inn."
As the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber was about to launch into his lightness skill, Seo Joo-cheon spoke.
"The reason I revealed that I know your identity is because I wanted to warn you—going to the inn looking like that would be dangerous. There may be real Plum Blossom Sword Guards there. Since they aren't here, there's a good chance they're at the inn."
Come to think of it, in his worry for his daughter, he had nearly gone in disguise.
"I hadn't thought of that. Thank you. I'll change into different clothes first."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber went into the woods. Not long after, it was not a wounded Plum Blossom Sword Guard who emerged from the trees, but a different martial artist. In an instant, the Plum Blossom Sword Guard had become a clean-featured, middle-aged martial artist of the Orthodox path.
"Let's talk as we run."
Do Gi, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber, and Jeo Pung, the White Salt Blade, launched into their lightness skills. Their hearts were so urgent that they intended to converse even while burning through their internal energy. The two men were slightly surprised when Seo Joo-cheon kept pace with them.
He's stronger than the rumors said.
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber and the White Salt Blade were itinerant saber masters whose internal energy and martial learning had both entered the First-Rate realm. To their eyes, Seo Joo-cheon's lightness skill was in no way inferior to their own.
"Can you speak?"
To speak while using lightness skill required at least half a Gapja of internal energy. It was a technique possible only for those whose energy had surpassed the Second-Rate and approached the First-Rate. Seo Joo-cheon nodded, then spoke.
"And one more thing. If you keep holding onto that elixir, the martial world will hunt you forever."
Seo Joo-cheon drew a porcelain bottle from his robes.
"This is a fake elixir I made. The scent should be nearly identical to the real thing."
Do Gi, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber, looked at Seo Joo-cheon with an uncomprehending expression. He had the sense that Seo Joo-cheon had laid some profound plan.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
In a situation like this, he could not ask how the man even knew about the real elixir, or how he had managed to make a fake. Questions like that were secondary.
"Originally, I was going to give this to Bulsama and turn the martial world's attention onto him. But I've changed my mind."
"To what?"
"You need to keep this."
"Why?"
Jeo Pung, the White Salt Blade, asked.
"It's possible your daughter has already been captured by Bulsama. If that happens, you'll need to use this fake."
Even while fleeing in disguise, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber had never thought to make a fake elixir. The idea itself had never occurred to him.
And yet this man is laying plans as if he can see through the entire board. As if he expected to meet me.
There was a misunderstanding in the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber's thinking, but Seo Joo-cheon had struck at unexpected angles so precisely that such a misunderstanding was more than understandable.
Do Gi opened the bottle and sniffed the fake elixir.
"Hah... the scent really is identical."
Having smelled the real Gongcheong Seokyu several times already, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber went beyond surprise into genuine admiration.
"Let me have a sniff as well."
Jeo Pung took in the scent and let out a gasp of amazement.
"It's indistinguishable. With this, we could fool anyone."
At Jeo Pung's words, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber spoke.
"So you're telling me to go to the inn and reveal that I'm the real Black-Faced Fluttering Saber?"
"Depending on the situation. There's no point making plans when we don't know what's happening at the inn. We'll adapt as we go."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber looked at Seo Joo-cheon and asked.
"Why are you helping me?"
Seo Joo-cheon smiled faintly.
"You think I'd help this much for free? If we save your daughter, give me half of that Gongcheong Seokyu. Half will be more than enough for her illness."
"You don't even know my daughter's condition. How can you be so sure?"
Seo Joo-cheon recited what he knew without hesitation.
"Severed Triple Yin Meridians is an illness that can be cured with just a few drops of Gongcheong Seokyu."
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber was so startled he nearly tripped while running.
"How do you know that?"
"I took her pulse. How else would I know?"
Until now, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber had only half-believed Seo Joo-cheon's words. With that, he believed him completely. That his daughter's lingering illness was Severed Triple Yin Meridians was a fact known only to himself and his daughter.
"Why else would Bulsama go all the way to the inn? As I see it, he means to kidnap your daughter again."
Given everything that had unfolded so far, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber had no reason to doubt Seo Joo-cheon.
He sees through every situation. For now, I need to rely on him.
The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber increased the speed of his lightness skill.
Before long, Namcheon Inn came into view—and Seo Joo-cheon was even more anxious than the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber. Black smoke was billowing up from Namcheon Inn. In the distance, Ham Cheon-yeong and Kang Chu-mi could be seen rushing inside.
Seo Joo-cheon put more force into his stride.