Subtle Changes

Crash! A band of martial artists burst into the inn.

"Get them inside, quickly! And Junior Brother, fetch a physician at once!" a warrior soaked in blood barked.

Several men supported the wounded as they came through the doors. When the waiter approached, one of the martial artists spoke.

"We are disciples of the Mount Hua Sect. Forgive us, but we need to treat our wounded here."

"Wouldn't it be better to take the injured to a physician?" the waiter asked.

The Mount Hua Daoist shook his head.

"There's no time for that."

Then he turned and shouted toward the guests filling ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the inn.

"Mount Hua disciples are under attack by Demonic Path forces as we speak! If any Orthodox martial artists are present, please help us!"

His words failed to stir the martial artists eating their meals. A few glanced over, but none of them looked inclined to join in. Anyone who thought about it for even a moment could tell that a group bold enough to assault Mount Hua Daoists was no ordinary rabble. No one was eager to throw himself into a fight he might not walk away from.

"The Sect Leader's daughter of Mount Hua is in danger. Please help us!"

That, at last, caught their interest.

The Mount Hua Sect Leader's daughter — the Mount Hua Heroine, the Plum Blossom Red Flower Sword, Baek I-jin — was rumored to be the foremost beauty of Shaanxi. She favored crimson robes, and so most simply called her the Red Flower Sword.

All of that, of course, had been Seo Joo-cheon's own setting. But the incident unfolding now was a story that had never existed in the original work. From this, Seo Joo-cheon understood something. This world followed the great trunk of Invincible Lay Disciple, yet the finer branches grew on their own, indifferent to the details he had written.

Seeing that Baek I-jin was attacked on her way here, it seems we haven't strayed from the larger framework. That's a relief.

While he was still turning that over, Jang Hyeon-nam sprang to his feet.

"I am Jang Hyeon-nam, a lay disciple of the Wudang Sect! If Mount Hua Daoists are under attack by the Demonic Path, then let every chivalrous hero here come with me and drive these villains out!"

He delivered the speech in a magnificent voice, and the martial artists whose interest had already been piqued — now that they knew the woman in danger was the Plum Blossom Red Flower Sword — shouted in chorus.

"That's right! Let us show that chivalry has not yet fallen from this Jianghu!"

"Let us prove that the spirit of the Orthodox martial world still lives!"

It was then that Seo Joo-cheon noticed a message floating in midair.

Seo Joo-cheon had the distinct feeling that Karma Generation was a device meant to force him into events he would otherwise try to avoid. If he refused to intervene here, the next incident would never come to pass.

It's as if someone is writing a novel with me as the subject.

True to his nature as a protagonist overflowing with chivalry, Jang Hyeon-nam could not stand by in the face of injustice. He stirred the crowd and gathered a band of warriors. What Seo Joo-cheon had not expected was that Sang Ryo, the Nimble Fast Blade who was supposed to die at Jang Hyeon-nam's hands, was among them.

In the original scenario, this incident was supposed to play out inside the inn, with Jang Hyeon-nam joining Baek I-jin and the Plum Blossom Swordmasters to slaughter the Unorthodox forces attacking them. When those Unorthodox fighters struck, Jang Hyeon-nam had killed indiscriminately, without stopping to ask who the attackers were — and the Shaanxi Four Fiends and the Nimble Fast Blade Sang Ryo had been swept up and killed along with them.

But the backdrop of the fight isn't inside the inn. It's outside.

Ham Cheon-yeong, standing beside Po Un, did not even glance at the commotion. Dokgo Ho-in, on the other hand, was listening intently to the Mount Hua Daoists talking around them about the attack on their sect.

Seo Joo-cheon set aside the question of how to make contact with the protagonist. What he needed was a way to persuade his sworn brothers to go rescue Baek I-jin.

If I just say we should go save Baek I-jin, it won't be convincing.

An Unorthodox martial artist proposing they rush off to save Mount Hua Daoists was absurd on its face. He was still turning the problem over when a solution dropped into his lap from an unexpected direction.

"The Red Flower Sword's younger sister is badly wounded and needs treatment, but she can't get out — she's in danger. We need to bring medicine when we go."

The Mount Hua Daoists were talking among themselves. Hearing them, the warriors in the inn began to whisper.

"The Plum Blossom Red Flower Sword has a younger sister?"

"You didn't know? Well, her sister isn't a famous heroine. There's a frail younger sister named Baek Seol. Seems her body was too weak to learn martial arts. That's why she's not well known in the Jianghu."

"Then isn't she in real danger? She's already frail, and now she's wounded on top of that."

"That's why even the proud Mount Hua Sect came all the way to an inn to ask for help. The Plum Blossom Red Flower Sword is a First-Rate swordswoman, so she should be fine."

Listening to them, Dokgo Ho-in frowned, a look of anguish gathering in his eyes. Finding the expression strange, Seo Joo-cheon studied his face and activated Character Search.

A history unfurled beneath the face. Seo Joo-cheon read down through it — and flinched.

Among the many records, one startling fact surfaced.

Huh? What's this supposed to mean?

Out of nowhere, a star-crossed love story between Dokgo Ho-in and Baek Seol.

This kind of setting is actually my kind of thing, though.

That was how you kept a story taut and bittersweet.

"Big Brother, should we go watch the fight too?" Ham Cheon-yeong said, looking at Dokgo Ho-in.

They already knew Dokgo Ho-in's circumstances. At Ham Cheon-yeong's words, memories of the past slipped into view — Po Un's memories, of course. Dokgo Ho-in had been persecuted by Mount Hua Daoists who disapproved of his connection with Baek Seol. They had even tried to kill him, and so he harbored no fond feelings toward the Mount Hua Sect. After Baek Seol declared she would no longer meet him, Mount Hua had stopped tormenting him as well.

"Will you be all right?" Seo Joo-cheon asked.

Dokgo Ho-in answered as if it were nothing.

"I am not a man who clings to the past. Living in the Jianghu, I know well how foolish it is to nurse grudges over matters of life and death. I simply wish to watch. Great masters will be fighting, after all."

"That's right, Big Brothers. If we watch experts fight, we'll see how much our own skills have grown, won't we?"

Seo Joo-cheon seized the opening and chimed in.

"That's not wrong. But before we go, you will follow my word without fail."

"Of course. We'll follow you no matter what. Even if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you told us to help Mount Hua fight the Demonic Path, we'd do it."

Kang Chu-mi said it as a joke, but Ham Cheon-yeong scolded her at once.

"Fourth. Words have a way of coming true. Don't talk nonsense."

Seo Joo-cheon gave a bitter smile at Ham Cheon-yeong's hard line.

Helping Mount Hua isn't going to be as easy as I thought.

Once the commotion died down and the guests and warriors had filed out, the inn was deserted.

"All right. Let's go."

They stepped outside to find Jang Hyeon-nam at the head of several dozen warriors, already moving.

Now that's protagonist energy. He gathers a crowd wherever he goes.

Seo Joo-cheon followed them at a distance.

Those attacking Baek I-jin were, just as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Mount Hua Daoists had said, a Demonic Path force.

Many wuxia novels set the Demonic Cult as the face of the Demonic Path, but Seo Joo-cheon had never much liked borrowing so common a device. So he had created an organization called Macheon Chong, standing in opposition to the Orthodox faction's Hundred Clans Alliance. If the Demonic Cult wore a thick religious coloring, Macheon Chong was a gathering of Demonic Path martial artists who pursued only strength — a group whose purpose was hegemony and absolute dominion. He had designed its nature to sit even closer to the Demonic Path than the Cult itself, and had written it as a presence that stirred up no end of chaos in the Jianghu. Incidents would follow, and within those incidents the protagonist would shine.

Thus in Invincible Lay Disciple, Macheon Chong's main seat was set at Qianling Mountain in Guizhou, with its branches spread throughout the entire martial world. A world in which Macheon Chong and the Hundred Clans Alliance held each other in a delicate balance of power — that was the Jianghu of Invincible Lay Disciple. Truly a chaotic age, one in which a Great War of Orthodox and Demonic would not have been the least bit strange.

Seo Joo-cheon was currently under two Karma Missions, and so he could not afford to ignore what was happening.

The first is protecting the protagonist, Jang Hyeon-nam. The second is rescuing Baek I-jin. In a way, you could say the two missions are the same.

In a fight, there was no telling how the situation might turn. This Karma Mission did not follow his writing, and he had no idea how it would unfold from here. He could not shake the unease.

Is this supposed to teach the author to understand his characters' hardships?

But thinking a little deeper, he realized he did not necessarily have to be the one to save Baek I-jin.

I'm the one who received the Karma Mission — but if the protagonist saves Baek I-jin, wouldn't that work too? Whoever saves her, as long as she lives, the mission is cleared.

The range of choices widened at once.

I'll watch the battlefield and decide how to act. Blindly carrying out a mission only works in a novel. Right now, if I take a master's blade, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'm taking a one-way trip to the Yellow Springs.

Seo Joo-cheon was afraid. He had never experienced a battle on this scale. But Po Un's body, which seemed to have no shortage of battlefield experience, was not tense at all. If anything, it was growing hot — as if this body loved the field of war.

They left the inn and ran for half a shichen. Beyond the hill they had reached, screams and the clash of steel rang out in a raucous din.

Jang Hyeon-nam looked down from the crest of the hill and first surveyed the battle. He did not make the mistake of charging in blindly. He was the type to lay a careful strategy before he moved.

"First squad, left flank. Second squad, right flank. Third squad will attack the front with me."

Hurling a ragtag bunch into the fray and milling about in confusion would never deal any real damage. He had apparently already organized them into squads on the way here.

Below, Mount Hua Daoists had formed a defensive formation around two carriages and were fighting hard. The carriages stood more than thirty zhang apart, each ringed by some ten Mount Hua Daoists. A similar number already lay fallen on the ground — proof that the fighting had been fierce for some time. Macheon Chong, by comparison, had nearly twice as many warriors and masters, and the Mount Hua Daoists were struggling just to hold their line. At least one carriage had a heavier concentration of Mount Hua experts and was holding out reasonably well. The other looked as if it would be overrun at any moment.

"Let's go! Let us show these Demonic Path scum the soul of the Orthodox martial world!"

Jang Hyeon-nam raised his sword high and shouted, and the warriors behind him roared and charged.

"Reinforcements have arrived! Mount Hua disciples, take heart!"

Three groups of nearly ten warriors each struck from three directions. They did not last long. Macheon Chong fighters waiting in the rear swept them aside like autumn leaves in a hard wind.

Among the men Jang Hyeon-nam had brought from the inn, there was not a single First-Rate. The only First-Rate martial artist was the Nimble Fast Blade, Sang Ryo. And so only Sang Ryo and a handful of warriors were left locked in a desperate struggle. When the reinforcements proved no threat whatsoever, the Mount Hua disciples' morale plummeted. Then Jang Hyeon-nam and Sang Ryo began cutting down Macheon Chong warriors one by one with their outstanding martial arts, and a thin thread of hope returned.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Two masters commanding the Macheon Chong force stepped in to block Sang Ryo and Jang Hyeon-nam.

"I am Jang Hyeon-nam, disciple of the Wudang Sect! Villains, stand down!"

"Where the hell did this chick come from, running his damn mouth?! You'll die for your own arrogance, so don't you dare resent anyone!"

The Macheon Chong master engaged Jang Hyeon-nam and worked his sword, and Jang Hyeon-nam fell on the defensive at once. No matter that he possessed One Gapja of inner energy, his actual combat experience was pitifully shallow beside a Macheon Chong expert. Even with a full Gapja of power, he was being pushed back.

Watching from beyond the hill, Seo Joo-cheon felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Hah. No matter how perfectly I created my protagonist, I couldn't give him real combat experience. This isn't a novel — it's reality. Realistically, Jang Hyeon-nam would never have had a chance to accumulate battlefield experience. He would have only sparred at Wudang.

At least his inner energy was high. Whenever the Macheon Chong master drove him to the brink, he sprayed Sword Qi wildly and scraped through by a hair. But he could not use that Sword Qi as effectively as the Macheon Chong master, who wielded the same technique, and so he would seize a brief advantage only to be driven back again.

Unlike the struggling Jang Hyeon-nam, the Nimble Fast Blade Sang Ryo was actually pressing the other Macheon Chong master. They were of similar skill, but Sang Ryo's superior combat instincts put him in the lead.

Did I make a mistake?

In Invincible Lay Disciple, high inner energy and superior martial arts did not mean you automatically won. A Second-Rate could defeat a First-Rate. A First-Rate could even triumph against a Peak Realm master. In one-on-one combat, Seo Joo-cheon had weighted years of seasoning and hard-won experience heavily, so that young talents with nothing but high inner energy could not win easily. He had considered that realistic.

But experiencing that so-called reality with my own body... isn't exactly pleasant.

Of the warriors Jang Hyeon-nam had brought, only five remained, on the verge of being wiped out by the rest of the Macheon Chong force. Mount Hua masters were falling one and two at a time as well, and one of the carriages was about to be lost.

"Young Lady, please don't come outside."

A Mount Hua disciple had gone down, and Baek Seol came out of the carriage to treat him — only to be stopped by a warrior.

"If they see you, it'll only provoke them. That's not good."

"I understand."

Baek Seol answered in a gloomy voice and closed the carriage door again.

Watching from afar, Dokgo Ho-in felt his whole body catch fire.